The future of highly available, high-performance, secure, dynamically scalable, hosted computing is here. It’s Microsoft’s new online service computing platform: Windows Azure. In this session, we’ll discuss and demonstrate the basics of Windows Azure and how you can leverage it in your work. We’ll show you real-world examples of how companies are using Azure today, help you think about applying it for customer-facing applications, or quickly and dynamically add horsepower to your own computing infrastructure. We’ll also touch on the exciting future of the platform – including what you can expect to see in the coming months and years.

Highlights include:

· What exactly is “Cloud Computing”? What applications are best suited to the cloud?

· Microsoft’s commitment to the Cloud: The virtualization platform and data centers

· The Azure architecture: How it all fits together

· How to get started in the cloud: Deploying and managing applications

· Will I save money by doing this? (Using the Azure TCO tool)

· What will Windows Azure look like a year from now?

SESSION 2: Hyper-V: Tools to Build the Ultimate Virtual Test Network

Windows Server 2008 R2 and Hyper-V version 2.0 provide a powerful base upon which you can build a highly realistic, effective test bed for servers, clients, and networks. In this session, you’ll learn how to use the resources of a TechNet subscription, Windows Server 2008R2, Hyper-V, and a new, free sysinternals tool called Disk2vhd, to build the ultimate test or training environment. We’ll show you how to import existing virtual machines and export virtual hard disks. You’ll see how to take point-in-time snapshots, and to build snapshot hierarchies that allow you to move both backward and forward to specific points in the time of a VHD. We’ll also demonstrate how to create a virtual machine from a running physical machine, and then import that VHD into Hyper-V. By the end of this session, you’ll have a solid understanding of the tools and techniques currently available for building a great virtual environment in Hyper-V.

Highlights include:

· TechNet subscription: What is it? How do I get one? What does it cost?

· Virtual Hard Disks: format interoperability and disk types

· Working with virtual networks and network connections

· Connectivity with legacy network adapters and network adapters

· Using wireless interfaces

· Importing and exporting VHD files

· Effects of importing and exporting a VHD in Hyper-V

· How to take, apply and consolidate snapshots

SESSION 3: Windows 7 Deployment

Deploying Windows 7 is easy if you’re using the Microsoft Deployment Toolkit (MDT) 2010. This session will walk you through the various tools that can help simplify your deployments. We’ll drill down in the MDT Workbench and look at how the MDT process helps you create a reference image, which can then be easily deployed to the target computers. We’ll look at how to configure the deployment environment, show how you can add operating systems, applications, drivers, and language packs using the Deployment Workbench, and then finish up by creating a task sequenced deployment to a target computer.